#i almost have the urge to draw my OCs again but. Heh.

[aueua]

i've once again fallen back into starcraft. the UMS maps caught me hard, and the EUD types fascinate me deeply. i also missed the saturation and voices...

#i almost have the urge to draw my OCs again but. Heh. #Don't tell my wife (my exams) about tha-

[spoon-writes]

Ends of the Earth | Chapter 21

Fandom: The Mandalorian

Pairing: Mando x OC

Read on FFN or AO3

Summary: When Sinead's husband is ripped from her, she escapes the Hutt Empire and goes on a quest to find him. Since being a runaway slave in the Outer Rim isn't exactly easy, she makes the Mandalorian an offer he can't refuse, and soon they travel across the galaxy looking for her missing husband.

Chapter index

Chapter 21 -  Sinead and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day

The Razor Crest exited hyperspace directly over Zessol, close enough that Sinead could make out long mountain range cutting clean across the continent. The airspace was crawling with ships. The planet's main draw was the space station locked in orbit over the largest city where the near-constant stream of ships going back and forth made the air shimmer. The station had been a medcenter during the war and abandoned when the Empire took over. Scavengers found it and somehow managed to haul it all the way to Zessol, and thus Alpha was born, a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Sinead swallowed thickly when the station came into view, nervous energy making her leg bounce. There was no reason to be so affected by this, but it was all she could do to ignore the urge to hijack the Crest and run for the opposite side of the galaxy. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't register the ship's turning down towards the sprawling city.

"What're you doing? I thought we were going to Alpha."

Mando swerved out of the way of a light freighter that cut clean through the line of ships going for the planet. "I don't think ... I think you should stay on the planet."

She sat up straight. "I'm not gonna hide while you fight my battles for me."

Mando huffed out a sigh. "That's not what I meant. It's too dangerous for the kid while there's still bounty hunters after him. I don't want him anywhere near the station."

Sinead looked darkly at the looming station that seemed too big to be able to function like Zessol's gravity would suddenly take hold and drag it to earth. It had been made for outer space, not hovering in the atmosphere.

"We've left him on the ship before."

"From what I've heard, this place is worse than Tatooine. Even if there aren't Guild members, someone else'll try to turn him in."

"Worse than Tatooine. Never thought I'd see the day."

It still felt like an excuse to keep her out of it, and she sorely wanted to take it.

"All right. I'll stay with him. But only if you get me if anything happens. No matter what."

What if Kyen was in there? They had passed at least a dozen dark ships, weapons tacked on with varying degrees of competence. The entire sector was crawling with pirates.

"I will. Just keep him safe."

After waiting for what felt like ages for permission to land, Mando dropped Sinead and the kid off on the landing platform. She watched the Razor Crest rise into the air, catching a glimpse of Mando through the windshield before it turned and headed up towards Alpha, which seemed to fill the entire sky. According to the navicomputer, it was in the middle of the night planet time, but the station lit up the sky like a sun.

She could still see the Crest as a small dot among the other ships when a finger tapped her hard on the shoulder. A short human sneered at her as she turned around, crossing some very muscular arms across her chest.

"You need to scram," she said through a wad of chewing tobacco, "less you wanna get squashed."

A ship was nearing the landing pad with its landing gear out, and Sinead didn't stick around to ask who would do the squashing.

"What a warm welcome," she mumbled into the crown of the child's head. "It's a wonder anyone wanna leave."

The port was teeming with sentients trying to get off-planet, voices in basic, huttese, twi'leki haggling for a spot onboard the next freighter heading out, standing in groups carrying large packs or children on their backs. It looked like half of Zessol was trying to escape.

Stepping out of the main port, they found themselves in the middle of the city. It was a lot bigger than Sinead had expected for a small out-of-the-way planet like Zessol, but being a haven for criminal activity paid off, apparently. Standing by the side of a street and watching the many speeder bikes block traffic flow, it was almost like being back on Coruscant.

The kid watched the surroundings with rapt attention, turning his head to follow every sound with his ears lifted to catch whatever could be heard over the general wall of noise from the city.

"Never been to a big city before?" Sinead asked the kid as they made their way down the trash-strewn sidewalk. "You probably have, being fifty and all. You're older than me."

He made no sign that he had heard her even if he could reply. How much did he really understand? Sometimes when she talked to him, she felt like he understood every word she said. Maybe he was all grown up, just unable to communicate. She shuddered at the thought of being trapped in a body, unable to talk but aware of everything.

The main thoroughfare was lined with shops that spilled out over the sidewalk selling mostly food and drink, with other more specialized shops offering weapons and everything else a full-blooded pirate could want. While it wasn't the roughest place she'd ever seen, she definitely understood why so many people were trying to leave.

She stopped in front of a stall carrying the saddest produce she had ever seen this side of Jakku. A surly besalisk glanced up from a datapad. "Yeah?"

"25 creds for a keebada? That's a bit steep don't you think?"

"You must be an outsider. The price you pay to live on Zessol."

"I guess." Sinead looked over the bruised or moldy fruit. "Don't suppose you have a fresh batch right out back, do you?"

"Heh. What you see is what you get. It's been a long time since Zessol had anything to offer except blood and death."

Sinead hoisted the kid further up her arm. "The galaxy is in no short supply of that."

The Besalisk shrugged and placed a hand the size of a dinner plate on the counter. "Well, it's all we got. Ever since the station turned up-" she cast a dark look up at the sky- "the crops have all withered if they even grow at all. All because of that thing."

Sinead followed her eyes to Alpha that turned slowly in the night sky. "Zessol's changed a lot?"

"Ha!" The laugh seemed to explode from deep in the Besalisk's chest. "Did it change! Imagine someone left a big hulking scrapheap in your atmosphere, how would you like it? Tides all kriffed up, fish disappeared, plants don't grow no more."

"I never realized …"

"Yeah, well … ya want anything?"

"Sorry. Not really in the market for perishables."

The Besalisk grunted and went back to her datapad, and Sinead continued down the street.

Suddenly, the kid made a noise and started to wiggle so wildly that Sinead nearly dropped him. They stopped in front of a store with a small display of sweets beside the door to entice potential customers. A small pile of candied boba fruit had caught his attention, and he reached for them with an almost comical look of concentration on his little face.

"Sorry, space-bug," Sinead said and grabbed his hand. "Candied fruits aren't really in the budget. Next time I promise to buy as many as you want, okay?" There were barely credits enough for fuel after Zlii had seen to the Crest.

He made a last attempt to wiggle out before calming down enough that she could move him to rest on her shoulder where he could still look out at the city. His hand curled around a lock of Sinead's hair.

"How long do you think it'll take?" She asked him after wandering aimlessly for a couple of minutes. Alpha seemed to grow larger in the sky with every passing moment. "You know, I practically grew up on stations like that. As long as we did enough legal work, the Empire didn't bother us too much. We ran cargo for them now and again. If my parents could see me now, they'd tell me to get a grip and stop moping. And they'd probably be right."

The kid cooed.

"I think you would've liked my father. He was always so calm compared to my mother." The words came out softly. "Everyone was calm compared to my mother. All he ever wanted was to travel the galaxy. Before you, I'd never met someone as curious as him; he could spend hours wandering the planets we landed on. If it hadn't been for the rest of the crew keeping track of him, I'm sure he'd have gotten lost a long time ago. He had this way of spinning even the most mundane things into masterpieces. Nothing was ever ordinary to him." Her chest felt tight. It had been so long since she’d allowed herself to think about her family. It was like telling Mando about her past back in the cabin had knocked something loose.

The kid watched her with his dark eyes, and at that moment Sinead was sure he understood every word she said.

"Enough of that," she said and gave herself a quick shake, returning the memories to the back of her mind where they belonged. "It's time to use those legs of yours, don't you think?"

When they reached a less packed street, Sinead sat the kid down on the ground and kept an eye on him as they walked at a much slower pace than before; the child kept stopping to examine everything in his path, and Sinead had to stand back and wait patiently. Who knew how much time they had to kill before Mando came back.

Suddenly, a door flew open, and a Wookiee came barreling out, shoulder checking Sinead so hard she spun on her feet. The Wookiee stared her down with his icy blue eyes and growled deep in his throat. Whatever snippy thing she was about to say died on her tongue.

She watched him as he started down the street, a bowcaster strapped to his back. "What a friendly bunch they are here, huh."

Looking down, she expected to see the kid watch her with curious eyes or examine something that no one really should look too closely at.

He was gone.

The ground disappeared under her feet, eyes locked on the patch of pavement where he should have been. He had been there a second ago! "Kid!" It came out as a screech. "K-kid? Child- fuck!" When Mando returned, she would force him to give the kid a name if he didn't kill her first.

Forcing herself to breathe, she ran to the nearest sentient, a human man standing on the corner watching the traffic and smoking a cigarra. The world spun with every movement like she was running on ice.

"Have you seen a little-- a small green creature? Big ears, half the size of an ewok?" Her voice came from somewhere above her.

Yellow stained teeth flashed as he sneered. "Haven't seen nobody. Piss off."

She was off before he finished talking, sprinting down the street while calling for the child with a voice more than edged with panic.

Reaching the street corner, she bent over with her hands on her knees and breathed in through the nose and out through the mouth. Two young Togrutas watched her. Just as she managed to get her breathing under control, a crash further down the street sent her heart thundering to a halt. She flew towards the commotion, pushing and shoving through the crowd which had quickly gathered in the street.

Elbowing a Duros out of the way revealed what remained of a stand and a crashed speeder bike. Lumpy vegetables littered the street, and the spectators had already begun to fill their pockets. A human and a Weequay were screaming at each other, gesturing wildly to the pitiful wood splinters. The crowd was egging them on, just waiting for the first to draw their weapon.

Somewhere in all the screaming, Sinead caught a snippet that made her heart skip a beat.

"A little green thing came out of nowhere-"

Without thinking, she stumbled into the circle. "Where did you see him?"

The human and Weequay stopped mid-scream to stare at her.

"Bugger off?" The human said in the slow voice of someone not sure what was going on.

"You said something came out of nowhere-" Sinead wanted to grab his shoulders and give him a shake- "where did it go?"

"I don't know, somewhere down the street- Hey!"

She pushed past him and was gone until she reached a wide road that cut through the city. A strangled moan escaped as images of the kid trying to cross the street flashed through her mind. Mando was going to kill her.

Suddenly, she spotted him between the speeder bikes; he stood by the mouth of an alley, looking so incredibly small against the darkness.

A wordless yell exploded deep in her chest and before she knew it, her legs carried her into the middle of the road. A speeder bike clipped her leg, and she stumbled, took her eyes off the child for a second. When she got to her feet and looked up, he was gone.

"No!" She stumbled into the alley and started ripping aside the garbage cans that had been collected against the wall, dripping with a smelly substance which slowly oozed into a grate running along the middle. "Fuck!"

She looked up just in time to see a small shadow disappear around a corner.

"Kid! Come back!"

Down the alley and around the corner, there was no sign of him, only a labyrinthian nightmare of dirty alleys that seemed to crisscross randomly, so narrow that the light from Alpha struggled to penetrate the gloom. She had stepped into another world, the high walls shutting out all sounds of the city, only leaving her labored breathing and the crunch of broken glass with every step. The air felt oily, coating her tongue with a foul taste. She reached a dead end, a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire.

"Fuck!" She kicked a dented can into a pile of refuse, which created a domino effect and the whole thing fell in on itself.

What do I do, what do I do, what do I-

Her ears prickled as a faint sound echoed down the alleyway. Without a second thought, she started running.

Turning a corner, she screeched to a halt so suddenly that it felt like parts of her were still going, pushed forwards by sheer momentum. Five darkened silhouettes stood in a circle, two crates and an open camtono between them. Their conversation died as they all turned to stare at her, whose brain completely blanked from surprise and adrenaline crash.

"Have you ..." her voice faltered as one of the menacing silhouettes slowly reached towards their hip. Her eyes flickered to the open camtono on the filthy ground. It was filled to the brim with credits.

Fuck.

"What the kriff you doin'?" One of the shadows barked out.

"Don't move!"

Sinead stopped and released a slow breath, eyes jumping from one shape to another. "I'm not trying to cause any trouble…" she calculated how far she could run before getting a blaster bolt between the shoulder blades. "I'm looking for-"

"Yeah, right." One of the silhouettes passed from darkness into shadow revealing a heavily scarred human face hidden behind a curtain of dirty hair. "Who sent you? Was it Grish? Come for a little revenge, have you?"

If she'd dared to take her eyes off them, she would've hidden her face in her hands. "I don't know who you're talking about," she said in as calm a voice as she could manage, which wasn't very calm considering the kid was still missing and she was likely to be gutted in some random alley. "A child is missing. I'm looking for him."

"Likely story. Now, why would a kid wander round in an alley, huh?" A voice rasped out. "Can't believe Grish didn't shell out for a better merc."

The corner was right behind her. If she jumped back and somehow kept her footing on the slippery ground, she could get behind cover, and then what? Run? She had no idea how to get back, her panicked sprint had left no time to memorize the route.

"Maybe she's one of Julel's lot. She'll have our heads if word gets back to her."

Slowly, carefully, Sinead inched back again, scanning the dirty alley for anything that could help.

"I told you-" the human took a step, reaching out to grab her- "don't fuckin'-"

Whack.

Grabbing a board propped up against the wall, she swung it as hard as she could. It splintered against his head and he stumbled.

She dove around the corner just before two blaster bolts lit up the darkness.

They followed behind her, footsteps echoing between the walls. The street crossed another, and she took the branching path just as another blaster bolt tore a chunk out of the wall. Everything became a blur as she tried to put as much distance between herself and the thugs.

Turning a corner, her foot hit something slippery that sent her careening into bins that had been stacked precariously on top of each other. Trash rained down around her as she got to her feet, dazed but with panic still coursing through her veins. She stumbled to her feet, ignoring the pain radiating through her shoulder, which had been the main point of contact. Various fluids stained her clothes, and she would have gagged on the smell if there had been room in her brain to comprehend it. Her brain was filled with only one thought: RUN!

Finally, there was hope. Two buildings leaned against each other, creating a narrow path nearly invisible in the gloom and barely big enough for Sinead. She squeezed into the gap and tried to claw her way along the grimy wall, but it quickly became apparent that just a few meters in it was blocked by a heap of trash that didn't budge when she tried to shoulder it out of the way. She was stuck.

The footsteps were fast approaching. She swallowed and grabbed her blaster, crouching down to make her a smaller target. The walls were too steep and slippery to climb, and when they opened fire, there was nowhere to go.

A shadow thundered past the opening. Then another. Then another.

She waited with bated breath for someone to stop, to look inside the nook and see her trapped. Gradually, the footsteps faded into nothing. It felt surreal crawling out on her hands and knees, looking down the alley where her pursuers had gone. She got to her feet and leaned against the wall with legs too wobbly to carry her weight.

"Holy shit."

Gritting her teeth, she pushed off the wall and started jogging in the opposite direction. A clang somewhere in the labyrinth made her pick up her pace, and she glanced over her shoulder into the shadows. It felt like someone was watching her.

The dark alley fell away, and she stumbled into a busy street, wincing against the sudden light. The sounds of people and speeder bikes echoed in her head.

In the sky, Alpha loomed.

"Excuse me," Sinead said, stopping a Twi'lek who was hurrying down the sidewalk. "I'm looking for the port. You know where it is?" Her voice was warbled.

The Twi'lek jerked away while giving her a disgusted look. "Keep going thataway." His voice was hollow, like he was trying not to breathe through his nose. "You'll find it eventually."

She did find it after some time. The ever-present swarm of starships made it easy to distinguish between the rest of the buildings. Her heart grew heavier with every step. Just what the hell was she going to tell Mando? I'm sorry but I lost your kid? If we're lucky, some bandits have found him and he'll live a happy life as a pirate.

The main entrance was in sight when she had to stop and take a deep breath, twisting the sleeve of her jacket in her hands so hard it started fraying. She had to tell him. There was no other way out.

A soft coo broke through her panicked thoughts like a rock through a window.

She looked down and let out a strangled sob.

The child looked up at her, ears perking up in innocent curiosity. A sticky powder stuck to his face and down the front of his little robe, and he clutched a half-eaten boba fruit.

"You!"

The nearest sentients were startled at the yell, but Sinead didn't notice. She snatched the kid off the ground and held him at arm's length, turning him to make sure that he wasn't hurt. "Don't ever do that again!" Her hands shook with the wild urge to squeeze him against her chest. "I’m getting you a leash, you hear me! I swear if you do that again, I'll leave you. Got it?"

The kid babbled and held out a sticky hand, offering her the candy.

"You're back to not understanding a word I'm saying, huh?"

He grinned, and she couldn't help but smile, releasing her anger with a sigh. She let him snuggle into her shoulder.

"We’re not telling Mando."

<- Previous chapter - Next chapter ->

#the mandalorian #din djarin #the mandalorian x oc #mando x oc #din x oc #din djarin x oc #fanfiction #ends of the earth #oc: sinead

[themoonstarwarrior]

PLAYLIST SHUFFLE TAG!

Okay, so @viterbofangirl tagged me in this and I need to start learning to post my own shit, so what the hell, why not?

Rules: you can usually tell a lot about a person by the type of music they listen to! put your favorite playlist on shuffle and list the first 10 15 songs, then tag 10 people. no skipping!

(I couldn’t stop at 10 so I added 5 more, sue me)

I have very random music taste and I listen to my music on shuffle alot, so I made a playlist of the ones I like the most (that way I don’t hafta skip 150 songs to get to the one I feel like) so I’m gonna use that one.

1) History of Violence - Theory of a Deadman

Hoo boy starting off light huh?.... Yeah so, I was in the drive thru at Sonic when I first heard this on the radio and was immediately like “holy shit”. Instead of like metaphors and poetic subtlety, it’s just straight up like “here’s a poor abused woman who resorted to murdering her shitty boyfriend/husband cuz she couldn’t take it dum dum dum”. Even though the actual situation is not the same, this song is perfect for getting across the internal issues and turmoil of my character Mikey. Its so perfect I’m even planning to animate something for it...... if I ever get around to learning animation that is.....     

2) The Vengeful One - Disturbed

Two songs in and I look kinda emo.... But hey this song is soooooo cathartic! I love me a good heavy rock song, and the drums and electric guitar are perfect for my ears to absorb. This song gives off a feeling of overwhelming power mixed with a coldness and disdain for the bad in the world. Obviously, thats not my usual temperment, but its an interesting one to explore! Especially when I’m trying to get into the head of characters that exude that like my OCs Spark or Ryu. Plus its fun to sing in the car X)

3) Enter Sandman - Metallica

Okay this one is just a classic! Same thing with the drums and guitar they both slap SOOOOO GOOD. I don’t really associate this song with any of my characters or fandom favorites, but it DOES give me a super strong urge to learn the drums. EXXXXXXXXIT LIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT! OFF TO NEVER NEVERLAND!!

4) We Are Giants - Lindsey Stirling ft. Dia Frampton

I don’t really to listen to music by band or artist, but I LOVE Lindsey Stirling!!! She’s probably my favorite musician! This is such a good song, especially for someone like me. Its a positive song that talks about feeling alone in a crowd and unimportant to the world, but how you really do matter and shouldn’t be afraid to dream big and shoot for the stars. It really speaks to me and the vocalization is so good (especially for singing), not to mention the official music video is animated and AMAZING!

5) Cetus - Lensko NCS

I dunno if anyone knows this song, but damn its good. Its one of those Royalty-Free songs that people look up for their channels, which is how I found it in the first place, but I loved it immediately. Its a peppy 8-bit electronic bop that turns a little Irish jig at the end and honestly I think if I ever start an animation channel I’m totally gonna use it! (Also go support Lensko he make good beats!)

6) Sanctuary - Utada Hikaru

I did not grow up with Kingdom Hearts, and only played KH2 within the past year n’ a half. But good God, the moment that Cinematic Opening came on and this song started playing I swear I astral projected into a daze of feelings without names. I know that “Simple and Clean” is the quintessential Kingdom Heart song that gives everyone feelings, but IMHO Sanctuary blows it out of the water. As beautiful as the animation was, or how curious the occasional backwards lyrics are, or how weird it is having high-res Goofy and Donald in what is essentially an anime opening, I really can’t be distracted from this song when I play.

7) Chemical Plant Zone (Rock Remix) - Zerobadniks

Chemical Plant Song is like, one of the TOP Sonic songs by popular vote (and we know how awesome the Sonic series is musically so thats saying something!), but I could never quite vibe with the normal 8-bit version. I think I first heard this as someone’s ringtone and was immediately like “THATS PERFECT THATS EXACTLY HOW I NEED IT!”. The rock makes the song soooo much better and honestly gives the song the perfect vibe. Unfortunately, it took FOREVER to find cuz none of the Rock Covers of this song were the right one. In fact, tbh, I’m not even sure whether Zerobadniks is the correct artist..... that’s just who everybody was crediting when I found it. 

(imma include the link i found since its a little hard to find: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqJiZEM6aPI )

8) The Wolf - SIAMES

YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT ANIMATED MUSIC VIDEOS???? THIS IS A GOD-TIER ANIMATED MUSIC VIDEO. I found the video first, and seriously, if you haven’t seen it YOU NEED TO!!! The beat works perfectly with the images on screen and the story being portrayed is really intriguing, with the lyrics adding to atmosphere without necessarily describing the visuals shown. Even without the animation, the song itself is a banger. It bring to mind the feeling of intense motion forward, but unable to decide whether its movement TOWARD something or AWAY from something. I love listening to this on a nighttime drive.

9) Burn the House Down - AJR

If you ask me, the best way to make a pop song better is to add either violins or trumpets. For this song, it was definitely the trumpets that first caught my attention, and the rest of the song kept me listening. I don’t really know how to describe the vibe of this song, and I don’t have a specific character or story in mind when I listen to it, so its a little hard for me to talk about it. I think the best way I can describe this song and what draws me to it is a feeling of nonchalant go-with-the-flow attitude to shenaniganry. Almost an undertone of “We’re hooligans in a situation that we probably should get out of, but hey we’ve got life and each other so why worry?” At least that’s the closest I can get to a verbal description heh...

10) Slim Pickens Does the Right Thing and Rides the Bomb to Hell - The Offspring 

DANCE, FUCKER, DANCE, LET THE MOTHERFUCKER BURN!!!

So this also has a KICKASS animated music video, but its technically combined with the song “Dividing by Zero”. Now the video works SO well with both, and the shifting artstyles reflect the differing tones of the songs PERFECTLY. However, I have a preference for both the animation and the song on the Slim Pickens half. Its fun to listen to and sing at the top of your lungs and its SO CATHARTIC. Again I cant really describe what my head does when I hear it, but I think you can probably feel a similar vibe if you watch the music video. 

11) No Heaven - DJ Champion

The first time I finished the original Borderlands, I had been playing for days on end, had just finished a long battle with the Destroyer, and sitting back relieved to have beaten it and reflecting on how much I had enjoyed the adventure. Then this song started playing. For what I believe was forty minutes this song looped on my TV while the credits rolled. By the time the credits finished I was pulling up the song to listen to again! What an absolutely PERFECT cherry to add to this experience. This song perfectly encapsulated the chaotic, trigger-happy, morally ambiguous craziness that I had enjoyed and absorbed in this game. Every time I hear it now, I imagine myself in the wastelands of Pandora, driving haphazardly across the sandy dunes as my companions and I shoot and blow up everything in sight. You know, living the dream.......     

12) Hit & Run (Wolfgang Lohr Remix) -  The Electric Swing Circus

I fucking LOVE electro-swing! The electronic beats and rhythm blend so well with the wild and energetic freedom of swing. A lot of electro-swing gives me a vibe of wild movement, reckless abandon, and freedom from constraint. I think this song melds all of these feelings the best! As the last song might have indicated, despite my general nice and sweet temperament, there is a part of me deep down that is an absolute gremlin secretly enamored with chaos, insanity, and a general disdain for law and authority X). But whereas anything Borderlands related has a more “morality is an illusion blowing shit up is real” air about it, this song is far more peppy. More of a “good-hearted but insane” type of chaos, like an 100mph car chase where you end up sailing over the train tracks JUST as the train passes.

.... I may have gotten a bit off track lol 

13) Kickstart my Heart - Motley Crue

I love this song, but I have to be VERY careful when and where I listen to this. I love songs that make me feel like I’m going a million miles per hour, like I’m gotdam Sonic the Hedgehog. Unfortunately, I may or may not have had multiple instances of listening to this song in the car and abruptly realizing that I’m going like 15mph above the speed limit...... So yeah, regardless of absolutely perfect it feels to play this song while speeding down a nearly empty highway, please be careful and drive responsibly!!!

14) I’m Born to Run - American Authors

Imma just up and say it. This song is a Sonic song; like not like actually from the series but a song for the character. This song encapsulates Sonic as a character better than some of his ACTUAL THEMES (and remember Sonic music are bangers!). Its a song about freedom, living life as it comes, and not letting anything slow you down. Frankly I’m surprised they didn’t make this song FOR the Sonic series, or even the movie! Speaking of which, ironically I heard this song right after watching the Sonic movie in theaters, so yeah there’s no way I can associate it with anything else. 

15) Opa Opa - Antique

Oh, what a PERFECT way to end this list! This may be one of my absolute favorite songs of all time! I don’t remember exactly how I found this song... I think I had just relistened to Dalar Mehndi’s “Tunak Tunak Tun” and was looking for other catchy non-english songs and BOY HOWDY I found one! I know nothing about the band or what the song’s about (its in greek and i dont speak it), but this song is just a masterpiece of retro, pop, and dance sounds. This song feels like the musical and lyrical manifestation of dance and movement. I really REALLY wish I could dance JUST so I can express how happy and free this song makes me feel! This is the BEST song for me to end this list with!

***********************************************************************************

JESUS, this got long..... Sorry about that XD. It was fun though, and hopefully somebody was vaguely interested in my ramblings.

Guess I need to tag people now? How about @tharkflark1, @rockmilkshake, @neonbuck, @drawingsdrawingseverywhere, @birthgiverofbirds, @puccafangirl, @kalcat, @biblestudybussybopsbabey, @monstrous-milktea, and @memecage! I think there are a couple of people here I haven’t talked to though soooooo..... hi, I hope you don’t mind the tag X)

 Anyway hope you enjoyed and/or want to do this too! This took for-fucking-EVER to type, so imma go fuck off and watch youtube or something now...

#music and remixes #viterbo i was gonna add you to the bottom list and then i was like SHIT SHE TAGGED ME XD so oh well #i may or may not have cheated just a bit but shut up these are the songs i had something to say about #moonstar wont shut up

[is0gild]

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Chapter 8

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 6,473

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

It was dawning on me that I hadn’t fully thought this through.

This whole “having friends” thing.

There were so many factors I hadn’t even considered. Like, once you’ve made a new friend…

...what the frick are you supposed to do with them?

One would think I’d have this figured out by now. After all, I was friends with Rayne, wasn’t I? But Rayne was different. There hadn’t really been much to think about there, we’d just sorta clicked. Besides, we’d met when we were children - a time when the hot topics to talk about had been our favorite toys to play with or which of the boys had cooties or our latest masterpieces made during Arts and Crafts time involving gluing popsicle sticks and sequins to pine cones. You know, kid stuff.

But now I was an adult. An adult who had just made new adult friends who probably expected adult conversations.

And unfortunately I just didn’t think cooties and sequins were going to cut it anymore.

Which is why I could now be found on this fine Friday afternoon shift at the Ice Palace having borrowed Kristoff’s phone, making use of the current lull in customer traffic to carry out some important research. And how, one might wonder, was this important research being gathered?

By googling the phrase “how to friendship.”

Genius, I know.

Thousands of articles and tutorials had come back in the search results, not all of them useful, but I’d landed on a couple that could maybe help a little bit. I gnawed on my lower lip as my eyes quickly scanned over the words. Then with a nod, I used a pen to transcribe the cliff notes version over to my palm, adding on to the ever growing list of useful tidbits that could now be found there.

Call it my Chit-Chat Cheat Sheet. That’s right, folks, you’re witnessing a crucial life hack in the making. This handy-dandy little list was going to be my one-stop shop to social butterfly success. Look out, new pals of mine, you were about to be friended so hard. I was going to friend your butts off! This was-

“Hey, I also like to doodle on my hand whenever I’m bored outta m-”

With a half gasp, half yelp, I jolted up straight, wide eyes discovering Lea now standing on the other side of the counter from me. He brought up his hands, “Woah now, sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you.”

My own hand flew up to cover my pounding heart as I breathed out and shook my head. “No. No, it’s fine, I should’ve been paying more-” My fingers flexed, closing around empty air. My brow furrowed. “Wait…” Where did my-? Did I drop it? “...I had a pen.”

It suddenly blurred down from up above to crash land into the countertop, making us both flinch and jerk back slightly.

Oh. Heh. There it was.

“Sorry about that,” I gave a weak laugh, retrieving the writing implement and giving it a little waggle as I held it up. “I… guess I still got a few kinks to work out before I can successfully launch the first unmanned pencraft into orbit.”

...wow, did that stupid joke really just come out of me?

Must. Resist. Urge. To. Wince.

The corners of his eyes crinkled. “Might I suggest waiting for a day when the weather forecast reports zero chance of ceiling?” he pointed up.

I nodded, “Good note. Excellent observation. Prime example of one of my kinks.” I blanched, then hastily stammered, “I mean the… one of the kinks that, uh, needs to be, er… worked... out.”

Ugh, what’s wrong with me? Why am I like this?

This is why I needed the list.

...crud! The list! My eyes darted to my palm where it was scrawled in plain view for all the world to bear witness. Then my gaze flicked to Lea, looking at me with an eyebrow cocked and one side of his lips turned up. Then I balled my fist and jammed it behind my back.

Had he seen?

He mustn’t know about my secret hacks!

That’s when I spotted it. Kristoff’s phone. Still on the counter between us. Still open to the WikiHow I’d been taking notes from. My other hand shot out and swatted the device away, sending it slamming into the wall on my right before clattering to the ground.

Oopsie. Sorry Kristoff!

Luckily he was currently out and about taking his ten. He’d never have to know. This could just be our little secret between the phone and me.

“Shit, what’d that poor thing ever do to you?”

...rather, between the phone, me, and Lea.

What had it done to me, he asks? It’d tried to rat me out, that’s what!

My eyes darted to one side. “...let’s just say the crime fits the punishment.”

Snitches get stitches.

He glanced to where the abused phone still lay abandoned on the tiled floor, then snorted and crossed his arms with a shake of his head, “If you say so.”

Alright, so this exchange so far? Could be going better. Not exactly textbook. Lot of room for improvement. But that was okay because (ba-dum ba-dum!) Chit-Chat Cheat Sheet to the rescue! It could salvage any social catastrophe! Let’s just watch it work its magic, shall we?

I shifted to bring my hand out in front of me once more, casually resting my palm face down against the countertop. Then I lifted it just barely enough to furtively peek at the first couple lines I’d written there.

Start with a warm, friendly greeting. Examples include…

I locked eyes with him. “Whassup.”

He blinked. “Um… hi?”

Nailed it.

Alright, now that a proper line of communication had officially been established in the most cordial manner, on to the next step: small talk. After sneaking another quick look at my notes, I pressed my hand back down again and recited the words I’d just glanced at, “So nice weather we’re having, huh? At least it’s not raining like last week.”

This list was a god send. Pure gold.

He squinted upward, scratching the back of his head. “Hasn’t it been sunny for months now?”

...fudge.

Abort, captain, abort! The first one was a dud! Quickly, lock and load the second one and fire!

I anxiously checked my palm again and latched onto the next line, reading out, “That’s an awesome shirt you’re wearing!”

He frowned down at it, eyebrows knitting together. “You mean my work polo? Not… really, but okay.”

Aaaaaaaand another swing and a miss!

Oh wise and powerful Chit-Chat Cheatsheet, why hast thou forsaken me here, now, in my greatest hour of need? Me, your most devout and faithful of followers? Me, who loved and worshipped you so?

Feeling my panic spiking, I looked to my hand again to find one more line I had yet to try. One final chance for salvation. This was it. My ace in the hole. List, don’t fail me now!

Desperate, I didn’t even register the words as my eyes snatched them from my palm, handed them off to my brain that then shoved them down the pipeline to my mouth which proceeded to blurt out verbatim, “So what do you do in your flamingo?”

...the list had failed me.

“I’m sorry, what does who do in the what and where now?”

And we’re talking like… epic failure.

I was just now realizing this was the one I’d been in the middle of jotting down when Lea had startled me. So chances were good that that sloppy mess of a scribble at the end of the sentence? Wasn’t actually the word flamingo.

At least, I hoped it wasn’t.

Whatever. I give up.

Puffing out a sigh as I pinched the bridge of my nose, I muttered, “You know what, forget it. I’m just… having a bit of a malfunction. One of those days, I guess.”

“Oh,” he chuckled, “no worries! Those come up all the time working customer service, so I totally get it.”

This guy was too nice. Here I was, spouting off nonsense like a gibbering baboon and he was just brushing it off like it was no big deal. Like it was an everyday occurrence for a person to ask him if he did lord only knows what to a neon pink bird. I should get on with assisting him with whatever he’d come over here for. It was the least I could do in exchange for him putting up with the trainwreck that was me. Taking a deep breath and putting on a smile, I asked, “So what can I help you with today?”

He returned the smile, “Take a wild guess.”

I glanced around my work space. “Ice cream?”

“Got it in one,” his thumb went up. “I’m a total addict by the way, so you’ll be seeing a lot of me.”

“I’m sure your dentist says the same thing,” I deadpanned, pressing my finger to a button on the cash register. “Sea Salt, right?”

“You’re on a roll today!”

My grin twitched wider. He was so much better at this small talk thing than me. “How would you like it?”

“I like my ice cream like I like my women: swirly and in a waffle cone,” he winked, tossing out some finger guns.

...I take that back, this dork was just as clueless as I was. Had to be if he thought that was funny.

I merely arched an eyebrow at him as the silence stretched. Then he pouted, “Aw c’mon, kid, these are the jokes! Don’t leave me hanging here.”

I snorted, tapping a couple more keys on the register. “Sorry. It’s just that after the other day, I would have thought your answer would’ve been more along the lines of ‘frozen solid and on a stick.’”

“Oo, dirty,” he chirped, his eyebrows bouncing.

Welp. That’d teach me for trying to play along.

“But no,” he waved off, “that was more out of necessity. Only the ice cream bars can survive the long trip up the clocktower without melting first. Otherwise, give me creamy, fluffy, and with a twist any day!”

“Duly noted. Just a sec.” I turned, plucking one of the cones off the top of the stack as I walked past, approaching the soft serve/milkshake machine.

Ah, my old nemesis. We meet again. One could almost hear the Old West face-off tune whistling in the background. But thankfully, there would be no drawing of pistols this day. 

I liked to think there was a grudging, mutual respect between us now.

Being super mindful of the Anger Button, I switched it to the appropriate flavor and pulled down on the lever. As I moved the cone in small circles while it slowly filled with blue, sugary goop, I heard Lea ask, “Snow Bear?”

I looked back at him, a crease forming between my eyebrows as I tipped my head to one side.

...what’d he just call me?

He was hunched forward now, elbow on the countertop and chin propped in hand, fingers drumming against his cheek as he squinted at me with a frown. Then shook his head, “Nah, too healthy, even for a goody-goody like you. Tofu has no business being anywhere near ice cream.”

Then it clicked. Snow Bear was one of the flavors we offered.

“Big Bad Pete?” he pursed his lips to one side, then crinkled his nose. “Nope. Too nutty. Thinking you like a crunch, just not that kind.”

I returned my attention to the machine, making sure the cone wasn’t too top heavy. “Are you… trying to guess the type of ice cream I like?”

“Yup! Since Sea Salt clearly wasn’t your thing.”

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that.” I released the lever, completing the stacking spiral with a nice little curl at the top and turning to face him once more. “But it is… shall we say, an acquired taste?”

Lea smirked and scoffed, “Blasphemy! Don’t worry though, I won’t judge you too harshly for your dirty, heathen tastes.”

“You’re too kind,” I rolled my eyes as I handed him his purchase.

Taking it in one hand, he used the other to give me the munny due. “Consider it my one good deed for the century. It’s a doozy though. I’m expecting my sainthood any day now.”  He then lapped off a big blue chunk as he eyed me thoughtfully. “Donald Fizz maybe?” Then he pulled a face with another shake of his head, “Nu uh, too close to Sea Salt.”

“If you really want to know that badly, it’s-”

“Buh buh buh,” he pressed a finger to my lips, cutting me off. “Yeesh, don’t spoil my fun like that, let me guess! This is like my mutant power, I can always tell a person’s fave ice cream.” He narrowed his eyes on me as he took another bite, licking some of it off from the corner of his mouth. “You’re a tough read though. Gonna need more time, gather more intel.” A grin broke out again, “But I do oh so love a challenge.” Then he snapped his fingers, “What about-”

“Elsa?!” 

My blood ran cold at the voice that cried out from across the food court.

A very, very familiar voice.

One I had not expected to hear again for a while yet and certainly not here, at the Dusk Town Center mall, at my sanctuary of all places.

Lea glanced over his shoulder, looking for who’d interrupted him before yelping and leaping out of the way so as not to become roadkill to an auburn and blue blur zooming straight for me. It crashed up against the other side of the counter, lashed its limbs out over the top and seized me in its vice-like grip, yanking me forward into a bone-crushing embrace and squeezing the absolute life out of me as it once more shouted, “Elsa! I found you! At last, I found you!”

Or rather… not it, but her.

Anna Fryse.

My sister.

...who, as I was just now discovering, might also be part boa constrictor. Good lord, this girl did not know her own strength!

“Anna,” I wheezed, feebly patting at her elbow. An extraordinary feat, given that her bear hug was practically super gluing my arms to my sides. “Can’t. Breathe.”

“You’re okay! I was so worried! I thought you might be hurt or trapped or drugged or kidnapped or amnesiad or dead or, or, or- but you’re not! You’re really, really not! You’re alive!” 

“Won’t be for much longer if you don’t let go,” I croaked out, starting to see spots. Finally she released me and I gasped for breath. Ah, oxygen. Beautiful, life giving oxygen. I coughed, “Did you seriously just use ‘amnesia’ as a verb?”

Completely ignoring my question, her hands still grasped tightly at my shoulders as sharp, blue eyes set in a freckled face looked me over. Her red hair was done in pigtail braids and she was in a dark cobalt sundress with a black bodice.

Then she opened her mouth.

“Woah, Elsa! You look different! It’s a good different! I love everything about it!” She grabbed me by the cheeks, “Your face, the outfit, that hat - oh gosh, that hat! I never thought I’d see you in a friggin’ baseball cap! It’s too friggin’ cute! And a ponytail! How many times have I said you’d look totes adorbs in a ponytail, and you know what? Told you so! And- oh. My. Gawd!” She bellyflopped onto the countertop, pointing down, “I just saw the mini skirt! Friggin’ you! In a friggin’ mini skirt! Damn girl, you hawt!” She fell back onto her feet once more, looking up at our sign, “And this place! What is this place? This place is amazing! Do you work here? Please, please, please tell me you work here! Oh my gawd, you do! You have a friggin’ job! What do you do? How much do you make? Do you pay taxes? Do you pay rent? Do you have a 401k? What is a 401k?” She pointed at an ice cream spade, “What’s this thingie do?” Next at the soft serve/milkshake machine, “How does that work?” Up at a dangling Sven plushie. “What’s up with all the friggin’ deers?” Then at Lea standing off to one side, slowly eating his ice cream and watching on with one curious eyebrow quirked. “Who’s the hottie with a body?” She started to wave, calling out, “Hello, Mr Hottie-With-A-Bo-”

“Anna!” I hissed, cheeks roasting as I snatched her hand back down. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Lea returning her wave with a tiny one of his own, to which I shot him a dull stare. He just grinned and shrugged. Shaking my head, I asked him, “Could you, uh… would you mind giving us a minute alone? Please?”

“Sure, no problem. I should be getting back to work anyhow. Laters, El!”

...El? Who’s El?

“Nice meeting ya, El’s friend!” he gave a two finger salute to Anna with a wink before sauntering off.

Huh. Guess that’d make me El. I’d earned a nickname. Had our friendship leveled up? Wow, I was so good at this friends thing! Without even understanding it, I had somehow already mastered it.

Bravo, me!

Anna watched him go, then turned back to me with a low whistle. “Okay, seriously, who was the sexpot and please, for the love that is all that is good and foxy, tell me you are tapping that.”

“Oh my god, Anna!” I facepalmed. I wasn’t going to dignify that with a response. “What are you even doing here?”

“I told you already, I was worried!”

My forehead wrinkled. “But you knew I wasn’t abducted or anything, you were the one who helped me run away. Besides, didn’t you receive my text telling you I was okay?”

“Yes, weeks after you disappeared!” She smacked me in the arm with a glare. “You could have contacted me sooner, brat! And what the frick was up with your stupid text?!”

“Stupid...? What was wrong with it?”

“I’m fine, don’t worry, don’t come looking for me,” she flatly recited the words from my message before looking away with a huff. “Please, have you never seen any kidnap movie in the history of like friggin’ ever? That’s like classic code for ‘help me, help me, I’ve been taken hostage and am being forced to tell you these things under duress.’”

“Ugh, the way your mind works,” I grumbled, massaging one temple. “How did you even find me anyway?”

Anna snorted. “What, you think just cuz you blocked my number that I wouldn’t be able to track you down? Sis, please, we live in the golden age of technology. Trust me, I have my ways. There’s a lot a girl can do with just a phone number and this little thing called the internet.”

I opened my mouth to retort, but then froze with a gasp as another thought struck me and nearly stopped my heart. My eyes darted about, searching the food court while I fidgeted with my fingers. “Wait… oh god, does… do Mother and Father… do they know? Are they also here? Did you tell-”

She gently shushed me, reaching over the countertop to rub my arm. “Sis, Sis, it’s okay, they’re not here, don’t stress! I did tell them I got the text from you so they’d know you’re okay, but I didn’t tell them I’d figured out where you were. They don’t know that I came here looking for you. You don’t have to talk to them until you’re ready.”

“Oh thank god,” I sighed, slumping against the counter. That… was a talk I was in no way prepared for. Not just yet. I gnawed on my lower lip for a second, glancing back up at Anna. “What about-”

“He’s fine too,” she said softly.

I frowned. “...really?”

Her face pinched into a tiny grimace. “I mean, he’s not great. He got dumped at the altar, what do you think? But he’s a big boy, he’ll survive.”

Well that was a load off my mind.

Not. 

“Ugh, I feel terrible,” I buried my face in my hands. Then I peeked out between my fingers at her. “Could you… I don’t know… maybe do damage control with him for me or something?”

“Was already on it,” she beamed with a thumbs up. “But enough about all that, gah, so friggin’ depressing! I wanna hear more about you and your new life and this whole job thing and that redheaded Hunky McHunkface and all that’s happened to you since you flew the coop! Tell me everything!”

A tiny smile crept up onto my lips. I knew I’d been missing my little sister, but it was only in that moment... seeing her here in front of me, hearing her voice again... that I was realizing just how much. “I’d actually really like that. But uh…” I looked past her, noticing more shoppers wondering about amongst those tables out there now than there had been just moments ago, with even more trickling in by the second. “Looks like we’re about to get our afternoon rush, so it’s not really the best time.”

Anna tapped her chin with a low hum before her face lit back up. “Are you free tonight?”

My head tilted to the left. “I’m working closing, but I should be out of here by nine I think.”

“Perfect! Let’s do dinner! Then we can properly celebrate your new found freedom as you tell me all about it! Whaddya say? Pleeeeease?” Puppy dog eyes initiated.

I laughed and nodded. “Yeah, okay. That sounds nice.”

“Yay!” she bounced on her heels, rapidly clapping her hands together with a tiny squeal. “Ahhhh! Can’t wait! Okay, you said nine, right? Right! I’ll be waiting in my car right outside those doors over there, got it? Good! I’ll leave you to it then!” Then she was snatching me into another hug over the countertop and planting a kiss on my cheek with a loud mwah! “Love ya, Sis! See you then!”

And just like that, Typhoon Anna whooshed off once again, disappearing into the ever growing crowd.

Not a second later, I heard the door open behind me. “Hey, I’m back, sorry it ran a little long, I- hey, why’s my phone on the floor?”

I winced.

Heh… woops.

One tiny detail may have slipped my mind in all the mayhem that had been the last ten minutes.

I turned to see Kristoff stooping down to pick it up before he graced me with a scowl.  I chuckled sheepishly, “So… funny story…”

I got the feeling Kristoff hadn’t found my story all that amusing.

Don’t think he’d found it particularly believable either.

Not sure why. I mean, wasn’t it totally plausible that a strong gust of wind had blasted through the entire mall, causing one of the bigger reindeer dolls to fly off its hook and rocket straight into my hands, knocking his phone free from my grasp and sending it slamming into a wall where I had then left it for fear that moving it could cause more damage and trauma to the poor little device that had already been through so much?

No? Not plausible? Not even remotely or in the slightest?

Drat.

I'd never really been good at the whole lying thing.

But it'd been the best I could come up with on the spot. I mean, I wasn’t about to tell him the truth about how I was a total, pathetic dunce when it came to making friends which in turn caused me to do idiotic things like fling other’s people’s fragile property at hard surfaces.

In any case, Kristoff and I were currently not on speaking terms.

At least, I’m pretty sure we weren’t. That was my best guess anyway, given he hadn’t spoken two words to me since I’d spun my little tale.

Eh, he’d get over it.

A couple hours of the silent treatment later and he’d clocked out without so much as a goodbye. Then a few more hours brought me to the here and now of closing time. I was almost done wrapping everything up, just needed to finish wiping down all the surfaces. Having already ensured the inside of the little shop was pristine, I’d stepped out to be on the food court side of the counter, using a cloth to remove any fingerprints and other smudges that’d been left by customers on the display glass.

As I finished cleaning the last of it, I exhaled heavily and straightened up, planting my hands on my hips as I inspected my work. Nodding in approval at a job well done, I then looked to the clock on the wall to see that it was a quarter to nine. Perfect. Plenty of time to grab my things and lock up before heading out to meet Anna. Stretching my back to loosen some of the stiffness that had settled in there, I then took a quick glance over my shoulder.

It really should come as a shock to no one at this point that Lea could once again be spotted across the way from me. I was beginning to think the people in charge of scheduling our shifts met up for weekly tea and crumpets or something while they made sure the hours the two of us worked almost always lined up exactly. What nefarious scheme was being cooked up by the upper management of our two separate companies? What could they possibly hope to gain by it? Only time would tell.

In any case, he too looked to be almost done with all of his closing tasks. He was currently out in the food court area as well, using a broom to sweep up the area in front of Pizza Planet. Or so I’m sure the intent had been.

Except... he wasn’t really so much in front of the pizzeria as he was on top of one of the tables.

And it wasn’t so much a broom as it was an impromptu mic.

And he wasn’t so much sweeping as he was in his own little world, enthusiastically lip-syncing and dancing away to the song blasting out of his phone in the back pocket of his pants. I Believe In A Thing Called Love by the Darkness, if the wild electric guitar, high falsetto vocals, and cheesy lyrics were anything to go off of.

Wow, he really was a complete dork.

A splutter of a laugh burst out of me before I was able to clamp both my hands over my mouth in a vain effort to stop it.

I’m not sure how he heard me over all that explosive glam rock, but it seemed he did somehow for his head suddenly jerked in my direction. Then he beamed and started hopping across all the tabletops towards me. That couldn’t be sanitary. His feet at last touched ground in front of the Ice Palace as he crouched low before springing back up into a half-turn, landing himself in a seat atop the counter right between the ice cream display case and a cash register.

Still directing that ear-to-ear smile my way, he pulled his phone out long enough to hit pause on his music. “So whadja think? Do I put on one hell of a show or what?” 

Oh dear. Not only a dork but no shame to boot. A deadly combo, that.

I snorted, eyes on the glass once more as I went back to scrubbing it for the now nonexistent spots. “For sure. You should hurry up and get on becoming a bigtime rock star already.”

Broom balanced on the floor between his knees, he folded his hands over the handle point and rested his chin on his knuckles. “Nah, all that fame and fortune I’m guaranteed to get cuz I’m so loveable, awesome, amazing and cool would go straight to my head.”

I bit back a grin. “Because you’re so modest now.”

“Oh yeah, I’m humble as fuck!” he declared brightly. Then he shrugged and sighed, “Guess I’m just kinda perfection that way.”

My eyelids drooped. “...clearly.”

“So,” he lifted his head off its perch, freeing up one hand to scratch behind his ear, “everything okay? Between you and your sister, I mean.”

I looked at him, blinking a couple times. “How’d you know she‘s my sister?”

“You two got the same nose,” he smirked, tapping a finger to the side of his. “But seriously, you all good? She seemed pretty frantic.”

“Oh, that’s just Anna for you. The Looney Toons Tasmanian Devil personified. Pretty sure she doesn’t even know the meaning of the word ‘calm.’ But no, she’s fine. We’re good.”

“Glad to hear it!” A pause. “So…” he said again, this time stretching the word out as he bounced the broom handle back and forth between his palms now. “...you eat, right?”

Hand still absently running the cloth along the glass, I raised an eyebrow at him. What kind of question was that? “...I have been known to on occasion, yes.”

“Good. Any dinner plans tonight?”

I froze, eyes round.

Oh.

...was he asking what I think he was asking? I think he was asking what I think he was asking. Why would he ask that?! Wait... oh no… did he think that I was thinking that he should ask what I think he was asking? Because if that’s what he thought I was thinking, I most certainly was not thinking that!  Not even close! Unless… did this here right now count as me thinking that?

...hold up, now I’m confused... what was I thinking again?

Oh that’s right.

I was thinking about him.

Asking.

Me.

Out.

Which I was so not ready for! I mean come on, I had just gotten out of a long term relationship! What was that rule? The one about how long after a breakup before you should start dating again? Something about waiting at least thirty minutes before getting back in the - 

Wait no, that had to do with eating and pools…

Whatever, gah! However much time it’s supposed to be, pretty sure it’s more than just a few weeks if you’d not only been together for years, but also frigging engaged to your ex! 

Current relationship status aside, let’s just be real here... I’m not sure if this was something I would ever be ready for. Hello, Mayor of Hermit Island here! They throw hermit parades in my honor. Those parades have zero spectators and consist of one (1) person marching, that person being me, all alone, by myself, because it’s Hermit Island and kind of the whole point! It was sort of a miracle I’d ever started dating in the first place, much less wound up with a fiancé of all things! When you think about it, and I mean really think about it… how the frick had that even happened?! I’d been there, heck, I’d lived it and even I was still scratching my head over that one. I mean, how had I ever-

“Hey now, what’s with the-?” Lea’s words broke me out of the word jumble that was my brain and my eyes darted over to him. His furrowed brow suddenly went slack and he blinked, heading rocking back. “Hold on, you don’t think that I- That I’m asking you out on a- No! God no! No, no, no, that’s not what this is!” 

Oh thank goodness!

Wait… how did he know that’s what I’d been thinking?

...could it be the fact that all the color had drained from my face and I had stopped breathing?

Speaking of which, I should really start that back up again.

Okay, all together now, one, two, three annnnnd sharp, deep inhale.

Whew, much better! Man, oxygen and I were having a real on-again, off-again relationship today.

“Not that there’s anything wrong with y- I mean, I wouldn’t be opposed to- that is, uh… aw, crap,” he groaned, bonking his head against the top of the broom handle. “Forget it. Look, what I was trying to say was we - that is, the kiddos and I and a buncha other people who work at other stores 'round the mall, all of us get together every Friday night for food and drinks at the 7th Heaven. It’s this nice little pub not too far from here and I dunno if booze is your thing or what, but the grub’s pretty good there too, way better than your average bar food and so I was just wondering if you’d like to, I dunno… come join us and just hang out for a bit, have some fun. Interested?”

Ooooooooooh, got it! Well that was a relief!

...wait, was it?

Oh dear, just the thought of me having to interact with that many people all at the same time was enough to make my soul leave my body. Because once again, I have to play the President of Hermit Island card here. That’s right, I’d promoted myself from mayor to president within the last five minutes. I like to think I’d earned it after all my years of exemplary hermit service.

The point was, this little get-together sounded precisely like the kind of situation that I wanted to be on the polar opposite end of the planet from. Seriously, the Devil himself could not have designed a more fitting hell for me. Don’t get me wrong, it was sweet that Lea had thought to include me and I’m sure all the other people going would be nice and everything, but... I just couldn’t. I couldn’t do it. Not with the cold, stabbing pangs of anxiety already coursing throughout my chest at even the mere mention of going to such a thing.

Luckily, I didn’t have to. I had an out. A beautiful, glorious escape route courtesy of the one, the only, my savior (queue angelic choir singing)... Anna.

Clearing my throat, I managed a small smile. “Thank you, I appreciate the invite, I really do and I’m so sorry but I’ve already made plans with my sister. Speaking of,” I glanced at the clock again before hurrying past him and back into the Ice Palace to drop off the cleaning rag, “I really should be going now, she’s probably already waiting for me.”

He slid off the countertop, spinning around to face me with a frown. “Aw, ya sure? Why don’t you just bring her along too? We won’t mind, the more the merrier!”

Still with the smile, now accompanied by a slight scrunching of my nose, I shook my head. “Mm, no, I don’t think that’ll work. But maybe next time, okay?” Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I stepped out from behind the counter once more and stretched up on my tippy-toes, reaching for the pull-down gate. Crud, why was I always so stupidly short?

“Let me.” Him being the absolute Ent that he was, Lea had no trouble whatsoever reaching it and yanking it down for me.

“Thanks,” I murmured before locking it up for the night, then turning and making my way towards the double doors leading outside.

“Hang on, I’ll walk you out,” he said, bringing me up short.

Turning my head back towards him, I held up a hand, “Oh no, that’s fine, you don’t have to!”

“I’m heading that way anyway.” He started walking away backwards, jerking a thumb over his shoulder towards the Pizza Planet, “Just let me close up shop real quick.”

“Really, it’s not necessary. I’m just going to-”

“Be back in a sec!” he spun one-eighty, jogging off.

“...go,” I finished weakly.

Well now what? I guess maybe I should wait? My eyes shifted to the doors longingly.

...well, I did tell him he didn’t need to walk me. Not my fault he couldn’t hear me over the sound of his own chivalry.

Screw it. I’m leaving.

With a small grimace and one last peek back to where Lea had just disappeared, I turned away, squared my shoulders and strode off.

Pushing through the exit doors and out into the night air, I spotted Anna parked at the curb right in front of me in her bright red Porsche convertible, its top already folded back. She honked at me, calling, “Hey, hot stuff! Looking for a good time?”

I merely grinned and shook my head at her as I approached the vehicle. However, just as I was reaching for the car door, a voice called out behind me, “Wait up!”

I winced, screwing my eyes shut.

Fudge.

Lea came to a stop next to me, panting and hunching forward, planting his hands on his knees. He must have been running the whole way to make sure he caught me before I could esc- erm, I mean, before I left. He lifted his head, blasting us with the full force of those dimples of his as his gaze flicked back and forth between me and Anna. “You sure you ladies can’t join us tonight?”

“Thanks, but-”

“Join you for what?” Anna cut me off, scooting closer by shifting from the driver's seat to the passenger, arms folding across the top of the door.

This. Right here. This was exactly why I hadn’t wanted him to walk me out.

“Nothing big,” Lea straightened up, placing a hand on the car door as well and leaning against it. “Just drinks and food with some friends from work. If you can’t change your plans though, that’s totally cool, I just wanted to-”

Because once Anna found out...

“What are you talking about?!” she laughed. “Of course we can change our plans! That sounds so fun, count us in!”

…there was no way I was getting out of it. Ugh.

“Wha- really?” No doubt about it. He was quite pleasantly surprised. “Great! The place we’re meeting at is called 7th Heaven. Short drive from here.” He waved to another car parked a few spaces further down the curb, which responded by flashing its blinkers, “That’s Xion. She drew the short straw for designated driver tonight. Just follow her car and she’ll lead you right to it!”

“Sounds good! See you there!” she waggled her fingers at Lea as he dashed off to get into the other car. Then she scooched back over behind the wheel, making room for me. Face pinching just a smidge, I sighed and got in, slamming the door shut behind me. Bouncing in her seat as she started the engine, she chirped, “Wow, we lucked out! This is gonna be a blast! You excited?”

“...thrilled,” I said dryly, buckling myself in.

Welp. Let’s get this over with.

Personal hell, here I come.

Author’s note: Ahhhh, there she is! Elsa’s feisty-pants lil sister makes her debut! Also, notice how much Anna says friggin’? Now those sound more fitting coming out of her, but Elsa grew up hearing those friggin’s (and fricks) coming out of her sis for years now, so it may have rubbed off on her a lil. Also the last name Fryse? Norwegian for ‘freeze’... yeah, I got a lil punny in coming up with Elsa’s family name, ignore me and my silly lil pleasures xD And more BBS ice creams sneak into this chapter - and I was mindful of their in-game descriptions too, so yes, it is in fact canon in the video game that the Snow Bear flavor has *shudders* tofu in it. TOFU. In ICE CREAM. Thanks, but no thanks!

Anyway, moving on! Now Anna drags our dear antisocial hermit off on an unwanted adventure! What’s next for our intrepid heroine? Will she survive this dreaded night of socializing? Just who exactly will be at Friday night drinks anyway? And with the sheer volume of ice cream Lea probably consumes daily, just HOW massive must his dentist bill be at this point, I mean really?? We may never know the answer to that last question, but as for the rest, stay tuned to find out next chapter!

Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to any new followers out there (hello! :D) and to those of you who hit that like button last chapter, seeing that always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

#kingdom hearts #frozen #elsa #axel #fanfiction #lea #fanfic #kingdom hearts fanfiction #frozen fanfiction #kh fanfiction #kh fanfic #frozen fanfic #kingdom hearts fanfic #axelsa #fluff #romcom #slow burn #kh3 #my writing #ice cream and fire oven pizza #rare pair #crossover pairing #humor #snark

[rowdysakura]

Rizumo Week 2017, Day 2 - Embarassment

title: you’re no rock n’ roll fun fandom: Ao no Exorcist / Blue Exorcist characters: Kamiki Izumo, Okumura Rin, Moriyama Shiemi, and a gaggle of OC kids series: all the good in me is because of you (it’s true)

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale deeply and pray to Inari to give her the strength to not punch her second secretary through the wall. It’d be the start of a bad track record, for one. (Although, to be fair, the first one had been a demon impersonating the exorcist that was her first unknown-to-her dead secretary.) For two, Emi isn’t truly the source of her vexation. Thus, it would be entirely unfair to break the young girl’s face.

Izumo covers her face with a single hand, the other resting on her hip as she hangs her head. There’s a long moment as she goes through a couple of more cycles of meditative breathing before she drops both hands to her sides. Her head tilts back to stare up at the ceiling in apparent despair.

“How long have they been here?” she asks, tone full of the tiredness of a war general finally settling into the grave of defeat.

Emi winces sympathetically and gives Izumo’s shoulder a squeeze.

“It’s only been two minutes, it can’t be too bad right?” she answers, cheer in the lines of body and the smile on her face. Even her long brown hair seems cheerful in the way it bobs as she nods encouragingly.

Her smile is a lie, however. Izumo knows this down to her very bones. She’s done this too many times to be fooled. Has watched the light drain from her subordinates eyes, bit by painful bit, as she’s sent them again and again on this mission, a fate worse than death.

(”Never be the one to keep Arc Knight Izumo’s family busy while she’s out,” they whisper around the water cooler. Only when the light is brightest for fear of bringing ill luck, otherwise. “You’ll never come out the same.”)

It is that bad, Izumo knows. Her red eyes pierce brown and find nothing--Emi is dead inside already. Which is why she’s meeting Izumo outside her subordinates’ shared office space and not Izumo’s own. Emi’s given up. Set them free. Izumo finds herself imagining the carnage that awaits the two of them beyond the ridiculously tall, ridiculously thick double doors.

Izumo sighs. Then straightens, pulling back her shoulders and tilting her chin up. If she is going to walk into hell then she is going in proud and unbroken.

Decision made, Izumo strides forward. Emi trails behind her superior. Her own back unbowed, as well. Izumo will remember her fondly.

Grasping a handle, Izumo pulls open the wooden door. Internally, she braces for screaming both wild, victorious and low, despairing kinds; for seeing her subordinates, good exorcists the lot of them, spread among their desks, slumping lifelessly like forgotten debris; for the horde held precariously within to come rushing towards her the moment she’s noticed. She does not brace, instead, for silence.

Only just realizing she has closed her eyes, Izumo cautiously cracks a single one open.

“SURPRISE!”

Izumo’s eyes fly wide open, her hand gripping tightly onto the door handle in shock. Her mouth drops open and all she can do is stare.

There’s a different sort of carnage than what she had expected: confetti, burst across the office upon her entrance, a banner strung from the ceiling declaring “Happy Birthday, Kamiki Izumo (Mom)!”, and a ridiculously large cake behind the whole group. There were screams but all of delight and cheer. Not a single one of horror. Before her stands the horde, her little family of gremlins: children, husband, and wife, grinning wildly in alliance with her coworkers, waiting for her reaction.

“Oh,” murmurs Izumo. It’s all she can seem to get out past the sudden lump in her throat.

It’s enough, however. Emi slips out from behind her to join Izumo’s subordinates while the red-haired twins, Izanagi and Izanami, rush towards their flabbergasted mother. The rest of her children and her spouses follow after at their own paces. The twins collide with her legs before wrapping their arms firmly around them. In unison their grinning faces peer up at Izumo with mismatched eyes.

“Are you--”

“--very surprised?”

“We did our bestest--”

“--to keep it secret!”

Heat begins to creep up her neck as Izumo laughs just a bit nervously before encircling the two in a hug as best she can.

“Oh, yes, very surprised,” she replies, watching her words transform their faces from happy to positively gleeful.

Izumo lets them go, though they remain attached, to draw her next two kids--Shiro and Sadako--into an embrace. They’re older than the twins. Twelve and ten and already standing at her shoulder. Sadako presses her face into Izumo’s neck while Shiro leans up to a plant a shameless kiss on her cheek. Izumo ruffles his hair in retaliation, smiling as he squawks.

“Mother, I worked all day on that!”

“It was a beautiful mohawk,” Izumo allows. Smile turning into a smirk as Shiro protests that he’s ‘not beautiful, oh my god.’  “But, you know the rules, kisses get smushes.”

Shiro pouts, whining, “I’ve never heard of that.”

“Are you sure that’s not a made-up rule, mom?” asks Sadako, in turn.

“Oh, no, it’s definitely a real rule. I was there when she put it into the official lawbook,” assures Aiko as she comes up and manages to encircle her siblings and mother in one huge hug. Only fifteen and she’s already as tall as her father. It brings a spark of prideful envy to Izumo, as her eldest leans in to press their foreheads together. “Happy birthday, Mom.”

Before Izumo can say anything (though she doubts she could’ve, that lump seems to have grown several sizes in just a span of seconds), Izanami yelps excitedly, “She’s very surprised!”

The six of them break into laughs drawing apart just as Rin and Shiemi arrive, bringing up the rear.

“Really? I was worried you would figure it out and be all grumpy about it,” admits Rin, his grin unwavering.

Shiemi slaps him lightly on the arm before stepping forward and grasping Izumo’s hands, “What Rin means to say is that while we know you don’t particularly care to celebrate your birthday...so we hope this is okay.”

“A-and! If you don’t like it we don’t have to do this ever again,” assures Rin quickly, looking ready to take cover behind Shiemi.

“We just want to show you how much we appreciate you, is all,” finishes Aiko, giving her mother’s shoulder a soft squeeze. Sadako, Shiro, Izanami and Izanagi all give chorusing agreements.

The seven of them give her such hopeful looks that Izumo almost feels scared to breathe. She does, somehow. Past the tightness and the lump.

“Heh, well,” begins Izumo, licking her lips and swallowing. Her eyes avert to the ground. “What am I supposed to say to that? Especially, with those puppy dog looks that I’m pretty sure I banned...Of, course I like it. Thank you, very, very much for caring so much about me.”

“C’mon, bring it in!” Izumo calls, keeping her head down even as she raises her arms.

“Group hug!” shriek the twins.

Shiro gulps, “Two hugs in one day? Is this the end--ow, Sadako!”

“Get in here already.”

“I’m so glad you liked it! Just wait until you taste the cake I made your favorite kind.”

“I made sure he didn’t go too overboard on the sweetness factor, too,” Aiko adds, squeezing into the hug from behind. “And Shiemi brewed some mean tea.”

“We did--”

“--the presents!” 

“I’m the one who came up with the plan! Your secretary helped too, I guess.”

At that, Izumo weakly rubs her knuckles into her eldest son’s black hair, forcing out, “I-it was you who conspired to give me a conniption, then, huh?”

Her eyes burn and she can’t seem to draw in enough air. A small tremble runs through the purple-haired woman’s frame and Izumo draws her family in tighter with a shaky inhale. Her family’s voices buzz around her, almost lost in  the background drone of her cheerful colleagues.

I haven’t been fair to them, she thinks, remembering many birthdays passed by with ‘abrupt’ long-term, out of country exorcism missions that she simply ‘couldn’t’ pass up or flat out refusal to participate in anything more extravagant than a nice dinner at home, sans presents. Even now, she can feel the urge to brush them off and flee. The urge to hide away from the day that had only ever served to remind her mother how much she hadn’t wanted Izumo. 

(I wish I’d never given birth to you!)

Shame bubbles up inside Izumo. Only to be smothered by the sheer overwhelming amount of love pouring from her family to her. She hugs them tighter still, a sniffle breaking from her.

Shiemi gasps, “Izumo! Are you crying?”

Her family pulls back in concern, Rin spluttering, “N-now, don’t you start! If you start cr...crying then I...I...I will too!”

He really does start blubbering, waterworks, soft sniveling, snot and all, sending the twins off into whimpers. Aiko pats Rin’s back in faint amusement while Sadako worriedly gathers up Izanagi and Izanami to shush them. Beside his two mothers, Shiro stands stiffly. His arms raised in apparent surrender and eyes so wide he looks like he might faint at any second.

“I’m not crying!” protests Izumo in a sharp whisper. She attempts to point an accusatory finger in Rin’s direction. It’s rather difficult, however, when Shiemi holds onto her hands firmly. Supposedly, in attempt to calm her. “I-I’m just real-real-really happy!”

“See? Happy crying, happy crying, no need for you two to go weeping too!” Sadako all but wails in the background.

“I’m g-glad!” sobs out Rin.

Izumo chokes out, “Stop yelling!”

It’s too late, however, the damage has been done. The victim of carnage Izumo had been expecting earlier, namely dignity, has come at last. She just never thought it would be hers.

“Stop looking! Get back to work, you heathens!” Izumo shouts at her subordinates. They all stare back at her with an odd mix of well-trained fear and bemused bewilderment in their gaze. If Izumo hadn’t been ready for funeral drums before she certainly is now.

“But we haven’t even had cake yet!” objects Emi from the crowd, looking quite put out.

“She’s right. You haven’t opened presents either. How about we take care of that and then they can go back to work afterwards,” soothes Shiemi, sounding all too reasonable and polite.

Izumo can only stare at her wife with watery eyes, betrayed.

“Oooh, yes, don’t you two want cake? You only get cake if you stop crying, though!”

The tears drain away immediately to be replaced by near battle cries.

“Cake!” shrieks Izanagi.

“I want cake!” demands Izanami.

Grinning the sort of mad grin that possesses those who’ve just scraped by death, Sadako jogs away with the twins in arm, shouting, “Alright! Cake for everyone!”

A cheer goes up from the crowd at her declaration, followed by ever more raucous orders for only the biggest, most icing-est pieces of cake from the two twins.

Aiko hums. One more pat to her father’s back and she’s striding over to the still frozen Shiro. She hooks an arm about him and starts to drag him away, musing aloud, “I could definitely go for some cake. How about you, Shiro?”

Indescribable mumbles are the only response she receives. 

“Good enough,” declares the eldest Kamiki-Okumura cheerily, steering them towards the front of the growing line. 

Shiemi and Izumo watch them go. Shiemi faintly amused. Izumo falling somewhere to between mortification and glassy eyed acceptance. When they glance back at each other, Shiemi’s smile softens. Gently, she dabs at Izumo’s eyes, drying them.

“Let’s go eat, alright?”

Izumo doesn’t nod, or make a noise of agreement, but she doesn’t resist Shiemi’s tug towards the promising, if diminishing, cake. A sort of smile is even managing to creep onto her face. Sure, she’s certainly going to be a laughing stock around her office for a while but for once she’s pleased and happy on her birthday. With her family no less!  Snide marks around the office aren’t anything a little iron fist ruling can’t fix. If she ever comes off this endorphin high, that is. She might not even care--

“Aaah, I love you guys so much!”

Izumo and Shiemi don’t even get a chance to run before they’re lifted off their feet by one--no longer sobbing but still deliriously overcome with emotion--Rin. 

“I love you too, Rin,” returns Shiemi serenely. A faint blush spreading across her cheeks. Quite oppositely, Izumo writhes, claws, and howls like a trapped, wild animal.

“We love you too, Dad!” chorus all their children at once. More than one voice muffled through cake.

Izumo slumps in Rin’s arms. They’re out to kill her. Honestly, truly. Through kindness.

“Shameless! All of you are shameless!”

notes: honestly hope to explain this with subsequent stories but for now here’s a rough guide.

Izumo had Aiko when she was 22. Izumo, Rin, and Shiemi are all 37 in this fic. The rest of the children were adopted at various points. Shiemi became a part of the marriage (although not officially recognized) around the time Shiro was adopted.

Aiko is a carbon copy of her mother Izumo, bc manga genetics, with her father’s build, quarter demon, does not appear to have her father’s flames. Wears her hair ridiculously long. They don’t think she’s ever cut it, not even once. Training to be an exorcist, possibly dragoon.

Shiro is a brown haired and brown-eyed human. His hair pretty shaggy, he tries to do mohawks and fails spectacularly. Hasn’t decided whether he wants to be a cook or rockstar.

Sadako is also human. Currently, she has black hair but she eventually starts dying it blonde like her mother Shiemi. Blue eyes. Loves dressing up. Practicing to become a professional kickboxer. 

Izanagi and Izanami are half demons that can teleport and communicate telepathically with one another. They have small horns hidden by their red hair and red and green eyes (ones red and ones blue, for both of them). They’re about 3 here. Both have an unstoppable sweet tooth and sensitivity to other’s emotions.

#foxfiction #rizumo week 2x17 #rizumo #izumo kamiki #rin okumura #shiemi moriyama #ao no exorcist #blue exorcist #ane fic #ane #izumo #rin #shiemi #aaaand yeah basically they're in a polyamorous marriage bc fuck u why not they're the best ot3 #anyway this meh compared to my other one but here u go #i think i hit both options for this prompt but i went with embarrassed bc izumo is embarrassed #somone save her